Final Fantasy XV: Chapter 4 to 6

Even though it's been out for only a couple weeks, Final Fantasy XV is already becoming quite a divisive game. Since we last left off, I've completed the next three chapters so let's see what the bros are up to. Of course, spoilers are ahead.

You don't say, Ignis...

Chapter 4: Living Legend

Noctis has been getting some pretty bad headaches. It could be all the fumes from the Regalia but the gang has another idea. They travel to meet an enormous Titan who they believe Noctis has a connection with. I must admit, the following events were surprisingly cool. Although the gameplay was limited to navigating through corridors, it was awesome seeing the Titan make all hell break loose as the earth around the party shifted to cause quite a chaotic uneven landscape. Battling the Titan felt like a lengthy quick-time event as Noctis parried each oncoming attack. After the epic battle, Ardyn helped everyone escape via his airship but their precious Regalia was lost in the commotion. What's a bunch of boys to do without their swanky car?

Chapter 5: Dark Clouds

As if one giant god wasn't enough, this chapter begins with Ramuh (the lightning god) reaching out for Noctis' allegiance. Considering our car was missing, we took chocobos to various runestones then Noctis finally gained the ability to summon Ramuh. Cindy informed us that the Regalia is locked away within an imperial base so the best buds head over to infiltrate the compound and reclaim their vehicle. Not only that, Noctis has a good excuse to test the power of Ramuh. Seeing the summon animation at the end of this mission was pure awesome-sauce. Ramuh is unbelievably massive and watching him throw his powerful beam of lightning down to the ground far below was nothing short of epic. I'm looking forward to discovering more of these bad-ass summons...

You're right, young Noctis; I smell something fishy!

Chapter 6: A Way Forward

Thankfully, this chapter was short, sweet, and far less eventful. It began with a car ride where Iris joined us. I enjoyed watching her look around in amazement at all the wondrous sights as we journeyed forward; that was pretty cute. We eventually ended up at an imperial fortress where we stalked an official which kind of reminded me of Act 3 in Metal Gear Solid 4, but I digress. After an easy boss, we destroyed a Magitek generator then a powerful warrior named Aranea Highwind challenged us to a fight. Chapter 6 concluded with Gladio taking a short leave and the rest of us with a new mission: to find parts of a boat so we can take it to our next destination...

Playing the waiting game

I don't want to keep complaining about Final Fantasy XV because it can be fun at times. However, it's really starting to test my patience. For starters, there are way too many loading screens that can last a couple of minutes. Whenever one comes up, I usually go to the bathroom or check my emails because it's so boring sitting there waiting for it to load constantly. Speaking of waiting, watching the boys in the Regalia while awkwardly chatting to each other is starting to get on my nerves. I wish I could skip these parts but then I'd have to wait at a long loading screen again. Another thing that annoys me is how slowly your health recovers. If you're in a safe place and want to replenish your health, why can't it go up immediately? There's no point in forcing the player to wait ten minutes.

Noctis makes riding a chocobo look cool

These few chapters certainly had their fair share of stand-out moments but I hope the general sense of tedium starts to die down soon. Stay tuned for more as I play through this bro-filled adventure and leave a comment to let me know what you think of Final Fantasy XV.

Tylerh1701: Load times are awful in the game. I think I timed the longest ones at over 90 seconds. When did this become acceptable in gaming again? They're especially frustrating when you're doing sidequests and have to warp all over the map. It takes FOREVER and is super annoying. I also don't like how limited the fast travel is. Riding in the car while going to a place you've never visited before is equally as bad. So much wasted time in the game that drove me crazy.

A.J. Maciejewski: You can say that again. I actually don't mind long load times if it only happens once per play session but they're so frequent in FFXV that it's ridiculous. You're right about the side-quests. I stopped doing them because of that. "Fast travel"... yeah, right!

SG Brown: Hi again! No commentary about those "ever-present" Magitek troop transports? Constantly. -Adds aplenty! As an aside, NO reviewer has seemed to notice nor acknowledge the "uneven" pacing of the game. Flow, length of each chapter, and odd intersectional factors that come together in offbeat ways. Fish? Race chocobos? Sure, every prince does just that after hearing news of his father's killing and the terse reports about civil calamity and war and the falling of empire. If stories are best when they have contextual player involvement, how can FFXV be considered a "complete" experience when the devs are still adding story elements, cutscenes, new playable characters, a possible avatar character-creator and more? How 'bout that initial DLC slated for next week, at this writing? Boosts, gear, equipment that breaks the game dynamics. Not only that, consider that some of the goodies promote extra drops and rare drops, including a "protection ring" that nullifies friendly-fire when tossing magi-grenades. REALLY? So, not just an additional perk for gamers, these new goodies simply provide cheats (of a variety) to players that have paid extra for the season pass. Sure, a few items are gifted to the general players while embedded in a patch. . . --Btw, whatever happened to the PS4 PRO patch? Smoke and mirrors. (Yes, I know your critiques are about the xbox version, but still). My biggest single debate with others has been about the forthcoming bro dlcs whereby each of Noctis' party has an episode into: now gated areas. Not only that, these episodes take place DURING the main game without player participation UNLESS purchase of the season pass or of each singular episode, if sold that way, later. Not only are these episodes integral to the story flow and plot, they've been removed for later resale to players. In other words, all of the bro dlcs have been excised from the main quest and story! --The ending will verify this assertion. Another big middle-finger to the non-season pass players, is the salient fact that those now gated areas will offer new bosses, new gear that can be brought back INTO the main game and, of course, more xp and rare drops. (Better gear and more for $$$ over regular players). One of the more ODD dlc offerings is the "carnival ticket" where, much like FF14 online, a timed-event will be held for players in yet another gated area. --This carnival has been scheduled to unlock during the latter part of January. Square-Enix's description of the item is "Limited Time Carnival Ticket." What? MMO style themed-events in a single player game and only on offer for a limited time? It's HIGHLY likely, however, that the devs will make those "limited time" tickets available and further dlc at cost. Long load times? /smh Certainly, you've already discovered that fast-travel loading screens take up as much time as driving there in-game. One thing, important to me and many players, is world-size. Last year, the devs had showed a clay mock-up of their world and allowed the media to further promote a 784 sq mile playable environment. There had been much discourse about Eos' world size and "where" players could go in-game. Turns out, that the world itself is TINY and small compared to many open world games; notwithstanding discussion about all the glass walls, fences, mountain ranges and rivers that separate the playable world from distant impostors. Consider, too, the placement of mobs in the wild and their respawn rates. Many will insta-spawn after death while others seemingly never do. Frustratingly, the placement of founts of magic nodes are nearly always proximate to same mobs that respawn again and again forcing needless fighting of often low level mobs. Of course, this hassle is compounded by the incessant magitek troop transports that generate adds on top of adds. Balanced and tuned gameplay? /smh Consider, once more, the large number of gated or locked-off world areas. Fences, gates, barbed wire, rock walls, etc prevent the player from access but, soon, for extra $$$, players will be allowed to see what has been held back! Adding new accessible areas and content to games have been a tradition since early PC gaming but locking-off and gating content in a single player console JRPG is a HUGE middle-finger to those players that bought the game at launch believing it was a complete product. -We have to pay extra to access content and areas ALREADY cut from the game? Know that these areas are already IN the world; or, at the very least, have placeholders on the world map. Therefore, much like that "timed carnival event," player access is granted by the purchase of a "ticket or key?" What about the bathroom at Galdin Quay? Will that cost Noctis extra to use after his massage?

SG Brown: Ironically, guys, the lack of player-driving suggest the devs had believed that Noctis, as prince, would NEVER drive himself anywhere. How many princes chauffeur the help around? Sure, it's a silly projection, but take a gander at how messed-up the general story, gameplay activities and plot flow happens to be, still . . .

A.J. Maciejewski: I was just talking with someone about how dumb it is that Noctis decides to fish and do trivial side-quests on his way to more pressing matters (like his home city being attacked). Also, I haven't had much trouble with Magitek troops but that's probably because I'm doing very little exploring. Anyway, hopefully Noctis gets a bathroom key soon! He's been holding it in for ages!

SG Brown: Hi, I spent the majority of time in-game exploring; and, that may well be the reason for my frustration with incessant magitek troop transports, mismatched mob levels and MMO style nodes and mats acquisition. While advancing the story, I've further concluded that the game is simply unpolished; in addition, to being unfinished. To my mind, charging players $$$ for "unlocks" in a single player RPG is borderline money-grab x 2. Of course, additional DLC for successful titles have been traditional throughout the gaming industry from its earliest days; BUT, patching bugs or improving quality-of-life issues ala Witcher 3, is much different than adding incomplete features. Facts are: FFXV was NOT feature-complete when it launched. For Tabata to have claimed that the game was ready was either an understatement OR the result of miscommunication, ignorance or outright fabrication. Aside from commentary about silly side quests and poor pacing, imo, the larger issue will not be only the "incomplete" status of the game itself; but potential DLC drops that require more $$$ for a complete game with a coherent story. As far as Noctis and the Galdin Quay bathroom key: realize that NONE of us really knows what transpires in that tent when the Demons come out at night! :)